Currently, the 8th district encompasses most of the eastern desert regions of the state. It stretches from Mono Lake to Twentynine Palms. It consists of Inyo and Mono counties plus most of San Bernardino County.[2] It is one of the largest and most sparsely populated congressional districts in California. The largest city in the district is Victorville.

The district is 50.2% white, 8.1% black, 3.9% Asian, 35.3% Hispanic, and 2.5% other. Among registered voters, 41.9% are registered with the Republican Party and 32.6% are registered with the Democratic Party. Voters affiliated with other or no parties make up 25.6% of the electorate.[1]

Before the 2011 redistricting, the 8th district was a Democratic stronghold. It gave John Kerry his best performance in California in 2004, backing the Democrat with 84.2% of the vote. Barack Obama continued on this trend in 2008 when he received 85.22% of the vote in the district while John McCain received 12.38%.

The new 8th district lies in a politically conservative region of the state with a "Strongly Republican" Cook Partisan Voting Index of R+10. The Cook Political Report ranks it the 87th most Republican-leaning congressional district in the United States.[4]

In the 2012 election, the 8th district was one of only two in California where two Republicans faced each other in a runoff election.[5]